Masstech for Enterprise and PlayBox Technology Partnership Unifies TV Broadcast Chain from Ingest to Playout and Archive under Single Media Asset Management System

TORONTO, Canada--

Masstech Group, whose solutions enable media companies to save, share and transform content, and PlayBox Technology, the market leading provider of channel-in-a-box solutions for television, today announced that the companies have finalized a major partnership agreement. The centerpiece of the agreement is a development and support partnership between the Masstech for Enterprise division and PlayBox Technology. The companies will also resell each other’s products.

“We are very excited about our strong partnership with PlayBox Technology, the most recognized and experienced company in the world for channel-in-a-box systems,” said Masstech CEO Joe French. “Until now, broadcasters have only had a taste of what integration can do for their operations. Masstech for Enterprise already excels at providing unfettered access to archived media and metadata throughout the production chain. Now, working with PlayBox Technology, we’ve eliminated the inefficient gap between production and transmission. We’re taking out extra steps, reducing the possibility of error, and finally creating a broadcast chain that is a single, coherent environment from end-to-end. Best of all, Masstech sales and support teams are intimately familiar with the PlayBox products in our portfolio and can help customers get the most from the entire solution.”

“The Masstech-PlayBox Technology partnership provides a framework for the two companies to take full advantage of each other’s development know-how,” said PlayBox Technology’s founder and CEO Vassil Lefterov. “Masstech for Enterprise has a huge library of third-party integrations that bind all the parts of a media environment into a cohesive whole. PlayBox Technology’s playout systems connect that production environment with the world at large, facilitating efficient transmission with minimal need for hands-on management. This is the future of broadcast for which the industry has waited.”

The collaboration has already developed a unified asset database that enables content and metadata to flow undisrupted throughout broadcast environments that use both Masstech and PlayBox Technology systems. This database is the lynchpin for deep integration for Masstech for Enterprise media asset management and archive operations, PlayBox Technology transmission systems, as well as hundreds of third-party traffic, automation, editing and other systems used for acquisition, production and distribution. The net result of this development milestone is the ability, for the first time in broadcast television environments, to have seamless and automated access to and movement of content and metadata through a single asset management system.

The solution enables:

· Increased automation of repetitive tasks. Since users no longer have to log in to multiple systems and facilitate transport of metadata and content, they can focus on productive, content-creation related tasks.

· Greater efficiency by eliminating the need to move media between departments. Under the Masstech for Enterprise system, only metadata moves until an asset is needed for playout.

· Easy deployment by integrating Masstech asset management, transcoding and data movement services, as well PlayBox Technology playout systems, with the existing broadcast infrastructure using standard IT components and an easily configurable software environment. Deep integration with third-party production systems enables content to flow unhindered between from acquisition, through production and to final playout.

The companies will both demonstrate the Masstech-PlayBox Technology solution on their shared Stand, #8.C30, at IBC 2014, September 12-14, at RAI Amsterdam.

For more information about Masstech and its industry-leading archiving and media management solutions visit www.masstech.com.

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About Masstech Group
Masstech Group is the leading provider of powerful tools for media asset management and transcoding technology for the media and entertainment industries. From global media companies to corporate video production departments, organizations of all sizes rely on Masstech for file-based workflow solutions that have tangible impact on efficiency and productivity. Masstech serves a customer base that spans Asia Pacific, the Middle East, Europe, North and South America. Founded in 2002, the company is headquartered in Toronto, with offices in Australia, Europe, India and the United States. For complete information visit:www.masstech.com.

About PlayBox
Since 1999, PlayBox Technology has deployed more than 15,000 Playout and Branding Channels in over 120 countries. The company researches, designs, develops and provisions broadcasting products, systems, solutions and services for a wide range of television applications including start-up TV channels, remote playout TV channels, DVB (ASI/IP) TV channels, ad insertion, interactive TV, music channels, film channels, disaster recovery, satellite broadcasters, IPTV, SMS2TV, Internet TV, webcasters as well as local, regional, national and international broadcasters.